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00.20 Israel's military has declared dead a soldier who was previously believed captured by Hamas gunmen in Gaza violence that shattered a temporary ceasefire.

The military announced early on Sunday morning that 23-year-old Hadar Goldin of the Givati infantry brigade had been killed in battle on Friday.

Israel's defence minister, along with the chief military rabbi, met with the soldier's family at their home in the town of Kfar Saba.

Hundreds of well-wishers from around Israel gathered outside their home, praying and showing their support. There was an outpouring of grief among the crowd when the military's announcement was made public.

20.20 Mr Netanyahu warned Hamas that it will "pay an intolerable price" if it continues to fire rockets at Israel. His message sounds uncompromising: "We will take as much time as necessary, and will exert as much force as needed."

19.45 Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking now on television about Gaza and says Israel is prepared to continue fighting Palestinian guerrillas after the army completes its primary mission of destroying cross-border tunnels.

After completing the anti-tunnel operation, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will act and continue to act, in accordance with our security needs and only according to our defence needs, until we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israel's citizens.

A Palestinian girl, a neighbor of Al-Neirab family, holds her kite recovered from the rubble of her destroyed house after Israeli air strikes in the south of Gaza City (EPA)

18.38 Briefings quite clearly suggesting that Israel with withdraw only on its own terms, once Hamas tunnels have been destroyed. Some suggestion that could even be within 24 hours.

17.55 More reports from Israeli television stations of troops withdrawing from Gaza. Definitely some kind of drawdown under way - the question is how comprehensive is it?

17.40 Stream of pictures coming through from the day in Gaza.

A Palestinian woman and girl react after an explosion in the Beach Refugee Camp in Gaza City (Rex)

"There is research being done in the military, very professionally and reliably, (whose) conclusion is that at least 47% of the fatalities are terrorists, with photographs and names," Tzachi Hanegbi, deputy foreign minister, told Israel's Channel Two television, according to Reuters, adding that the data would be presented to investigators.

16.17 While plenty of celebrities have been pretty wary of wading into Middle East politics, crafting very carefully worded statements or hastily deleting tweets that have proved controversial - it is fair to say that Mia Farrow is not one of them. She has consistently advocated peace, lifting of the blockade of Gaza and proper implentation of a two-state solution.

16.05 Robert Tait, our Middle East correspondent, has just got off the phone to a senior Israeli official who is playing down talk that a complete withdrawal is looming amid reports that soldiers have pulled back from some areas in the north of Gaza. What he said was:

We have announced a withdrawal in specific areas where we think our mission has been completed. In other areas, we will remain and continue our mission. The places we are pulling out of is where we have completed our mission.

15.55 Copy and pictures have just arrived from Robert Tait, our man in Gaza, who has been documenting damage to Gaza's economy. A few days ago the Alawda biscuit factory had won a UN contract to supply food to refugees. Now it's a smoking ruin. The full story is here.

Standing in the ruins, Manal Hassan, the factory's executive manage, watched his workers battle smoke and sweltering heat to save raw materials that were vital to the manufacturing process.

They want to destroy everything. They don’t want the people to produce. They want them just to be dependent on aid. No rockets were being fired out of this area because the resistance knows this is a very big and important factory and wouldn’t want it attacked.

“It’s the biggest factory in Gaza and we never thought they would destroy any of it. They want to destroy the economy and make everybody feel pain.”

15.20 AFP reports the latest Unicef child death tolls - 296 so far, up until 11 am today. And that will grow. These are deaths that have been verified by the UN and many more are pending. That means children make up 30% of the casualties in the operation so far.

The toll breaks down to 187 boys and 109 girls, with at least 203 of them under the age of 12.

14.50 George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford, has written to John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, urging him to recall Parliament to discuss the situation in Gaza.

MPs cannot sit on the beaches or on our hands as hundreds of Palestinians are murdered. This is an issue in which Britain is deeply involved, as the author of the original and disastrous division of the region and a major supporter of Israel - and major weapons supplier - since.

Coincidentally, David Cameron was due to fly to Portugal on holiday today.

14.30 And, at the same time, rockets fired from Gaza continue to endanger Israeli lives.

A security official gestures in front of a damaged van after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the city of Kiryat Gat, Israel (AP)

14.25 Fresh pictures of the overnight devastation in Gaza have just arrived.

14.15 The Israeli army has told residents of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza that it is now "safe" to return to their homes, reports the AFP news agency, as witnesses said troops were seen withdrawing from the area.

12.36 Online forums remain abuzz with the fallout from a piece published - and then hastily deleted by The Times of Israel (which said it breached editorial guidelines) - last night asking whether a genocide might be permissible if it were the only way of securing peace. Yochanan Gordon builds his case that Israel has a right to defend itself before offering his explosive question:

I will conclude with a question for all the humanitarians out there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stated at the outset of this incursion that his objective is to restore a sustainable quiet for the citizens of Israel. We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?

This is not because Gordon himself is a particularly influential writer, much less a political leader of any kind, but because this post represents an extreme iteration of a much broader problem, in which the conflict and the discourse around it exacerbates and empowers extremism on both sides of the conversation.

12.15 We have video from the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon asking residents for their views on Operation Protective Edge. The consensus is in favour - no surprise given recent opinion polls - but with varying degrees of concern about humanitarian impact.

11.42 More than 600 members of the British Jewish community, including Rabbis, have signed a letter to Mark Lyall Grant, the UK's ambassador to the United Nations, asking him to use Britain's position as head of the Security Council this month, to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. Hannah Weisfeld, director of Yachad, the organisation behind the letter, said:

In light of the current developments in the region, the letter is even more essential than ever. The fact it has been signed by so many Rabbis indicates where the mood of much of the community is at. A new cease-fire must be brokered, with increased pressure on both sides to keep it. We call for the immediate release of IDF solider Hadar Goldin, whose capture in Gaza yesterday will do nothing to support the restoration of calm to the region.

11.24 The UK is making a further £3 million available to allow a rapid response by aid workers in Gaza to what Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, described as "nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe". The facility is designed so that pre-approved aid groups can get their hands on cash within a few days. Priority is being given to projects to provide clean water and sanitation, as well as emergency healthcare, clearance of unexploded ordnance and counselling and care for civilians, particularly women and children.

11.10 Difficult to see how far Egyptian peace plan can proceed when it sounds as if there'll be no Israeli delegation in Cairo. Attila Somfalvi, a journalist with Ynet, says he has been told by an Israeli official that the days of diplomatic arrangements with Hamas "are over".

10.40 Max Becherer, the Polaris photographer who caught that extraordinary image of a GBU-10 Paveway II bomb falling to its target, has explained on Twitter how he did it...

<noframe>Twitter: Max Becherer - To make the photo I had to start pressing the shutter the very first moment I could hear the jet fighter approaching.</noframe>

10.30 Despite set-backs of the past 48 hours, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said an Egyptian truce plan provides a "real chance" to end the Gaza conflict. A Palestinian delegation is expected in Cairo today to discuss a ceasefire. In a press conference this morning - his first since assuming the presidency in June - President Sisi stressed the need for its speedy implementation.

The Egyptian proposal is the real chance to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed.

10.20 Here's our 60-second guide to Gaza's humanitarian crisis

9.19 Still no word on the missing Israeli soldier Lt Hadar Goldin. Hamas has denied capturing him. So what's going on? He could have been killed in the fighting, as Hamas, has suggested. Or he might be held by one of the other militant groups operating in Gaza. Or as the latest copy from AP suggests....

Hamas could be withholding information about the soldier in order to extract concessions from Israel, a strategy used in the past by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which did not disclose whether two Israeli soldiers it seized in 2006 were alive or dead until their remains were handed over in a prisoner exchange.

9.05 Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has used a column in The Guardian to call on Israel to pursue a political solution.

If Israel wants to secure lasting safety for its people, it must use political will, not military might, to break the cycle of violence.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu must now put Israel's long-term, strategic self-interest ahead of short-term, tactical military gains. It is time for the Israeli government to talk to the Hamas political leadership in Gaza. Israel's refusal to engage with president Mahmoud Abbas's new unity government, because it includes Hamas, must be reversed.

8.45 Hamas' armed wing has denied any knowledge about the fate of the missing soldier, Lt Hadar Goldin, suggesting he may have died.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades has no information on this soldier. We have lost contact with one of our combatant groups, which was fighting in the sector where the soldier went missing and it is possible that our fighters and this soldier were killed.

8.17 David Blair's analysis of what's happening in Gaza, from our paper this morning, offers a powerful insight into the futility of this conflict. If you read nothing else today, make sure you read his full piece...

Make no mistake: if Israel escalates this operation still further, then the people of Gaza will be herded into ever-shrinking pockets of supposed safety, where they will be corralled in ever-greater squalor.

What could possibly justify such suffering? This brings us to the second reason why Gaza's tragedy is different. Even by the standards of wars down the ages, this one is singularly futile.

Israel, on its own account, is not fighting to destroy Hamas or solve the security problem posed by Gaza. No, its aim is to punish the Islamist movement for firing rockets and delay the moment – note the word delay – when Hamas will be able to resume launching missiles. So Israel is not struggling for victory, but for tactical advantage in a campaign that it expects to repeat, time and again, into the indefinite future.

And Hamas? The main aim of the rockets is not to solve a problem, but to achieve psychological solace.

08.10 Good morning and welcome to The Telegraph's live coverage of the Gaza conflict as the search continues for a missing Israeli officer Lt Hadar Goldin. Palestinian officials say 47 people died overnight in Israeli strikes, amid fears of a major escalation in the conflict.